''Natalie Merchant'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter

Natalie Merchant Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American alternative rock singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first se ...

, released on May 6, 2014 by Nonesuch Records. Her first studio album consisting of all original material since '' Motherland'' (2001), it revisits a characteristic theme of Merchant's, of "characters, and women in particular, struggling in a culture where odds are stacked against them".

Critical reception

Upon release, the album received mostly positive reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the album received a score of 73, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Commercial reception

In the United States, the album debuted at No. 20 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart on its first week of release, selling around 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week. It also debuted at No. 2 on ''Billboards Folk Albums, and No. 5 on the

Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

chart. As of October 2015, the album has sold 44,000 copies in the US.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes. ;Musicians *

– vocals (1-8, 10, 11) * Eddie Allen –

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

(4, 5),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(4, 5) *Kyle Armbrust –

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

(6, 11) *

Stephen Barber Stephen Barber (born 1974) is a British political scientist, political economist and author. He is Professor of Global Affairs at Regent's University London. He is also a senior fellow at the Global Policy Institute. He has also worked in the ...

– string arrangement (1, 10), woodwind arrangement (10) * Andrew Barr – drums (3, 8) *Jonathan Dreyden –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(8) *Steve Elson –

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

(7),

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

(7) *Tony Finno – string arrangement (6, 11) *Nadège Foofat – string arrangement (6, 11) *

Marc Friedman Marc Friedman (born June 18, 1977 in Ohio) is an American electric bassist/multi-instrumentalist and composer. Marc tours internationally and has recorded seven full-length albums with Boston-based avante-rock power trio The Slip. Marc is a co-ar ...

– bass guitar (3, 8) *

Clark Gayton Clark Gayton is an American multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer and musicians' rights advocate. Biography Born as Carver Clark Gayton Jr. to Carver Clark Gayton and Mona Marie Lombard, Clark Gayton is a professional musician (trombone, ...

– horn arrangement (4),

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(4, 5), tuba (4, 5) *Quan Ge – violin (1, 6, 11) *Mark Goldberg –

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

(10) *Gabriel Gordon – acoustic guitar (1-5, 7, 10), electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 6-8, 10) *Vivek Kamath – viola (1) *Mindy Kaufmann –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(10) *Lisa Kim – violin (1, 6, 10, 11) *Liz Lim – violin (1, 6, 11) *Joanna Maurer –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(1, 6, 11) * Jeremy McCoy –

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

(1, 6, 11) * Anthony McGill – clarinet (10) * John Medeski – organ (1, 4), electric keyboard (2) * Elizabeth Mitchell – backing vocals (2, 6) *Kurt Muroki – double bass (6, 11) *Jesse Murphy – bass guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 7), acoustic bass (5, 10), tuba (10) * John Patitucci – double bass (1) *

Shawn Pelton Shawn Pelton is an American drummer and percussionist. He has recorded with a wide range of artists and has been a first call player since moving to New York in the late 1980s. Shawn has recorded with artists such as Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, ...

– drums (1, 2, 4-7) *Erik Della Penna – electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 7, 8),

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

(3, 5), acoustic guitar (10) *Robert Rinehart – viola (1, 6, 10, 11) *Sein Ryu – violin (1, 6, 11) *Uri Sharlin – grand piano (1, 4, 10), Wurlitzer piano (2),

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

(5), electric piano (7), tack piano (10) *Corliss Stafford – vocals (4) *Alan Stepansky –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(1, 6, 10, 11) *Simi Stone – backing vocals (1, 4) *

Tamar-kali Tamar-kali (born Tamara Colletta Brown) is an American rock singer-songwriter and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. Early life Tamar-kali was born and raised in Brooklyn a 2nd generation musician through her father, who was a band leader ...

– backing vocals (1) * Johanna Warren – backing vocals (1, 2, 6) *

Kenny Wollesen Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist. Wollesen has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a foun ...

– drums (10), percussion (10) *Sharon Yamada – violin (1, 6, 10, 11) *Ru Pie Yeh – cello (6, 11) *Wei Yu – cello (1) ;Technical & design *Natalie Merchant –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Paul Antonell – recording *Elizabeth Bauer –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

assistance *Bella Blasko – engineering assistance *George Cowan – recording *Kabir Hermon – engineering assistance *John Horne – engineering assistance *F. Ron Miller – package design *Alex Nappi – engineering assistance *Eli Walker – recording, mixing * Dan Winters – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Natalie Merchant albums Nonesuch Records albums